As NewsBusters has been reporting for years, there is no objective press anymore - only sycophants gushing and fawning over the political leaders they agree with and admire.

More evidence of this came Friday from the Washington Examiner's Charlie Spiering who shared with readers some startling observations in Buzzfeed reporter Michael Hastings' new book including journalists swooning over Barack Obama at an off-the-record event held at a bar in Orlando, Florida, last year:

“The behavior of the assembled press corps was telling. Everyone, myself included, swooned. Swooned! Head over heels. One or two might have even lost their minds,” Hastings writes, as each reporter had a chance to speak personally with the president. “We were all, on some level, deeply obsessed with Obama, crushing hard, still a little love there. This was nerd heaven, a politico’s paradise, the subject himself moving among us — shaking our hands, slapping our shoulders!”

Against the wishes of the president and those assembled, Hastings reported at the time that the event took place without divulging the details. He was subsequently admonished for doing so:

“The fear was that the White House would collectively punish all of us by revoking the already limited access or, worse, Obama might never come down and hang out with us again,” Hastings writes.

Campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki, Hastings notes, was furious and angrily phoned his editor Ben Smith for publishing details of the event. In response, the Obama campaign banished him from the campaign plane for a week.

And this is the state of journalism today.

Is it any wonder that the public is so woefully informed about pressing issues facing the nation or that a president can easily win re-election with unemployment at almost eight percent?